Converting a Leman Russ turret so it represents a Tank Commander

[sneakyben]

I have a fully assembly, stuck together and painted Leman Russ... but I would like to convert it so it represents a tank commander

I am looking for suggestions as currently I am a bit stuck how to do this... so if anyone could fire some ideas my way it would be most appriceiated!


My current potential ideas are:

1) I could do a reasonably neat job of cutting the turret apart and shoving in an officer-looking guy... but want to avoid that where possible in case I ruin a perfectly good turret.

2) Buy a full new turret... but he bitz suppliers I would normally use do not have any turrets in stock

3) Buy something from forge world... but I don’t like how the Forge World resin Russ turrets fit on to the chassis (unless they have changed recently)

Which kind of leaves:
Getting a suitably officer looking model, and have him standing on somewhere on the tank...
This is my fall-back plan; and I will try and make him look like he wants to be driven forward so he can hit someone with his sword (only issue is finding some spare guard legs :-( )


[also, since I like to have all my stuff usable at Warhammer World events, I have asked them if they would accept a flag or big-vox/com array instead.]

[Thornblood]

If it was me, this is what I would do;

Big vox/comm array (like the forgeworld one) and possibly add a fantasy banner to one of the aeriels.

Personal heraldry; make a personal heraldry for your commander, pick what shaped shield you want it on, and then stick those shields everywhere (within reason). Obviously paint them with the heraldry on it.

Better tech; to help represent better resources, and possibly better bs too, I'd find some fancy scopes, binoculars, tank targeters and the like and stick them to the guns.

Edging; you know how the actions now have that slightly chaos-looking edging/banding on their armour? Add that, in plasticard to the tank.

Awesome free hand paint job; add something awesome. Maybe something from the heraldry, maybe an animal on each side of the hull mounted weapon (probs las), maybe on the sides of the sponsons, maybe big o n the side of the hull/tracks. Maybe something top- down. It could be simple like the cadian gate symbol?

Reference; google gameplay tank winners and marneus Calgars land raider for inspiration.

Hope this helps!

[DWest]

what I did for my Tank Commander was get a spare Regimental Standard (from the Cadian Command Squad sprue), and clip the Standard off its pole. Then I drilled out the bottom and inserted an appropriate-sized plastic rod (a toothpick will also work, in a pinch, or brass rod would probably be better). Then I drilled a hole in the turret adjacent to the hatch and slotted the banner in. Voila- instant Command Tank. Even better, if you don't glue the rod in place, it can be removed if you need to field the beast as a regular tank at a later date.

[sneakyben]

Thanks for the input...

I thought I would post up the reply I got from the people that run the Warhammer World Events:

"Hey Ben -
Well, that's an interesting question! Thinking about it, all we need is for that tank to be noticeably different to all the other tanks, in a way that is more than "the only punisher is the tank ace".

Obviously, having a guy sticking his head out makes it blindingly obvious and cool... but something like a banner would be great too! Make that tank look a bit more grandiose and we're cool with it "